Fair Housing Pro Bono

Fair Housing Pro Bono

As our city’s housing crisis intensifies, New Yorkers with disabilities continue to face disproportionate barriers to obtaining safe, affordable housing. All too often, New Yorkers are placed at an unacceptable risk of homelessness by housing providers who refuse to rent to people with disabilities or make reasonable accommodations that the law requires. NYLPI’s Fair Housing Project provides an opportunity for partner law firms to provide life-changing representation to people with disabilities who have been subjected to discriminatory housing practices. Common examples of unlawful housing discrimination that the Fair Housing Project seeks to address include a housing cooperative refusing to install a wheelchair ramp at a building entrance for a child with cerebral palsy; a landlord seeking to evict a longtime tenant with intellectual disabilities because of the landlord’s desire no longer to house tenants who rely on disability support program; and a property management company refusing to allow a tenant with a mobility impairment to bypass its waitlist for parking spaces. The Fair Housing Project is designed to ensure that partner law firms play an active role in NYLPI’s fight for fair housing. After initial pre-screening of cases by NYLPI’s expert attorneys, partner law firms assume primary responsibility for every aspect of representation in Fair Housing Project cases, from sending initial demand letters up to and including the resolution of any litigation. NYLPI provides screening, lawyering training and ongoing consultation and mentoring on these cases.